KEY
A-F = Letter grade; "?" means no voting record or MSSA
Candidate Questionnaire returned. Bold/E = Endorsed by MSSA
Candidate (Party) - Grade
U.S. House of Representatives
District #1
Ryan Zinke (R) - B Endorsed John Lamb (L) - ?
Monica Tranel (D) - ?
District #2
Matt Rosendale (R) - A+ Endorsed
Gary Buchanan (I) - ?
Sam Rankin (L) - ?
Penny Running (D) - ?
Montana Supreme Court
Justice #1
Bill Dalton (NP) - ? Jim Rice (NP) - C
Justice #2
James Brown (NP) - A+ Endorsed
Ingrid Gustafson (NP) - D
Montana Legislature
Explanation about legislative candidate grades and endorsements
(PLEASE READ): A HUGE amount of information goes into
compiling these grades and endorsements. MSSA tracks
legislative votes on gun-related bills before the Legislature.
For example, MSSA tracked nine different votes for 100 members of
the House in the 2020 session. That's 900 pieces of data to
track. So, when an incumbent candidate is graded, know that
this is from hard data and historic performance. Votes cast
are highly relevant and dependable as a litmus of a candidate's RKBA
performance and attitude. It also means that the candidate is
an incumbent (usual) or has served in the Legislature before, so we
have a voting record. MSSA's 2022
Candidate Questionnaire (CQ) has 17 questions for a candidate
to answer with any one of five answers. That times the 235
candidates just for the House in the General Election is potential
19,975 bits of data to receive, store, and collate.
If a candidate returned MSSA's 2022 Candidate Questionnaire but has
not served in the Legislature (if the candidate has a voting record,
we consider votes cast to be a more reliable litmus and use that),
then the candidate is graded based on that CQ. Many candidates
(especially Democrats) are advised by others to NOT complete or
return MSSA's CQ, which is why the reader will see so many
candidates with a "?" rather than a grade. These candidates
have no voting record and no CQ on file with MSSA. It is
MSSA's position that these candidates are likely hostile to the
RKBA, which is why they declined to return MSSA's CQ. Rarely,
MSSA will grade a candidate with some other basis. That's
because MSSA has some other source if information about the
candidate than a voting record or CQ. For those few candidates
who have a "+" after an "A" grade, that is because MSSA reserves the
A+ only for legislators who have carried bills for MSSA. These
are especially dedicated and proven supporters of the RKBA.
Endorsed candidates are in Bold.
Note: MSSA does not endorse candidates who have no
challenger and therefore no contest in the General Election.
An endorsement declares that one candidate will better represent gun
owners than other candidates in the same race. If there are no
other candidates and no race, no endorsement. Further note: Of the 227 candidates seeking the 125
seats up for grabs in the 2022 Legislature, MSSA has endorsed
54 Republicans and no Democrats. Unfortunately, MSSA could not
endorse any Democrats, either because incumbents had poor voting
records or because new candidates chose to not return MSSA's
Candidate Questionnaire (or, rarely, did return MSSA's CQ but did
not score well). Honestly, MSSA would love to be able to
endorse some Democrats. However, we won't do that
gratuitously. To earn MSSA's endorsement, incumbents must vote
for pro-gun bills and new candidates must return a good CQ.
Also: An "E-V" means endorsed because of a voting
record. An "E-Q" means endorsed because of a candidate
questionnaire.
Montana Senate
Montana House of Representatives
Note: In HD 90 there is a "?" for Green Party candidate Gary
Marbut. As MSSA President Gary cannot grade or endorse
himself.
